February 2023 Overview

February 2023 Overview

Writer's Check-in

It's kind of strange that this whole month feels like a blur, and I'm not really sure if it was because it flew by or my brain just chose not to mentally register it. Regardless, between my birthday, backpacking, and COCAINE BEAR (hard to not write that title in full caps), I had a good time this month. My workload is much more manageable compared to last semester, so I've had much more time to catch my breath, even if that means being much less productive than usual. Hey, time I enjoy wasting isn't wasted, right?

What is sad is that this has been the most unproductive month in terms of writing in a long time. Only managed to get out a measly three reviews and a playlist article that isn't even published yet (to be fair, nothing I've written has gotten published since November, largely my fault though). I guess part of it was that I have recently restricted my listening to music made by pre-60s musicians, and adjusting to my new listening habits lead to much more processing and thinking rather than writing overall. However, I did manage to get out both Muddy reviews, and the conveyer belt should get kickstarted again very soon!

Music Stats for the Month

Total Listening Time: 138 hours, which sounds about right. I listen on average around 5 hours a day, so with the month being shorter, it is about the same daily average as last month.

Top Artist: T-Bone Walker. I normally hate this kind of slow, loungey music, but goddamn, I love this man's guitar playing just so damn much. He simply DEFINES the chill, cool guitar hero archetype. I wonder if I'll ever tire of hearing the musical perfection of "I Know Your Wig Is Gone" or "I Got A Break, Baby".

Top Album: The Complete Capitol / Black & White Recordings - T-Bone Walker. Don't start with any of the Imperial or Atlantic stuff when it comes to T-Bone: this is the right place to get acquainted with his legacy. Though, probably make a playlist of the best material here to start out with (75 songs in one sitting can be a lot)

Top Song: "Fishing Blues" - Henry Thomas. Such a humble song that reaches unparalleled heights of beauty. Those guitar tones almost sound like the glistening of the fresh seawater in the Sun. I don't even know how to put what this song makes me feel in words: there is just some magic to these old folk-blues singles that were never recaptured ever again.

Reviews

Like I said before, I only produced three reviews this month, but I'd say they are a pretty solid quality overall. Here they are, all the singles reviewed either being essential or recommended listens:

1. Blue Light Boogie - Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five
2. Rollin' and Tumblin' - Muddy Waters
3. Rollin' Stone / Walkin' Blues - Muddy Waters

Articles

I know, I know, two of them are gonna be on the way soon. Just bear with me here.

Monthly Playlist

Hey, at least I got something done this month! Here is the link to this month's playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4W0MRa76tdxTBB8MLjmZfh?si=336224e8ed38476d

I think now my music taste is veering toward the unlistenable for a lot of people who are terrified to listening to music that sounds this old. I think the only songs on this playlist that came out earlier than 1961 on here are Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday" (because...you know) and Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" (because I guess that day called for the brutal, sinister optimism of that song). Still, I wouldn't say that the actual playlist is much of a hard listen at all, so feel free to dig into all of the great music here! 

Here is the tracklist:

1. "Hot Dog" - Blind Lemon Jefferson
2. "How Long Has That Train Been Gone" - Professor Longhair
3. "Prison Cell Blues" - Blind Lemon Jefferson
4. "Rock Billy Boogie" - Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'n' Roll Trio
5. "I Shall Not Be Moved" - Lonnie Donegan
6. "Happy Birthday" - Stevie Wonder
7. "Lewis Boogie (Live at Star Club, Hamburg)" - Jerry Lee Lewis
8. "Devil Got My Woman" - Skip James
9. "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On (Live at Star Club, Hamburg)" - Jerry Lee Lewis
10. "Red Blue Jeans and a Pony Tail" - Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps
11. "Beggin' Back" - Blind Lemon Jefferson
12. "Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air" - Sister Rosetta Tharpe
13. "Little Delia" - Blind Willie McTell
14. "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do" - Bessie Smith
15. "Good Rocking Tonight" - Wynonie Harris
16. "Crazy For My Baby" - Willie Dixon
17. "Quiet Whiskey" - Wynonie Harris
18. "Back Door Man" - Howlin' Wolf
19. "Rollin' & Tumblin'" - Elmore James (I wrote a review of Muddy's rendition here)
20. "Fishing Blues" - Henry Thomas
21. "Prove It On Me" - Ma Rainey
22. "Southern Rag" - Blind Blake
23. "Good Understanding" - Willie Dixon & Memphis Slim
24. "High Water Everywhere" - Charley Patton
25. "Po' Boy" - Bukka White
26. "I Know Your Wig Is Gone" - T-Bone Walker
27. "Don't You Just Know It" - Huey "Piano" Smith
28. "Lust For Life" - Iggy Pop

That's all for now. Thank you to everyone who still keeps up with my writing, and keep coming back down here for the content coming up!

1950 Singles: Rollin' Stone / Walking Blues - Muddy Waters

 Rollin' Stone / Walking Blues - Muddy Waters

Why included: 4th in RYM's Top 10 singles of 1950

A-side: Rollin' Stone

Apple Music link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/rollin-stone/1425237096?i=1425238011

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/30zbcrY9htBJ1MT6rVraQn?si=de3ac06802c84763

Often in the blues genre, there are these brief moments where a certain tone, a certain sharp vocal crack, or a certain musical phrase penetrates deeply into the depths of your soul and stays with you forever. They feel like a hidden treasure, something no one else has noticed, and thus are so deeply personal to you and your connection with that artist. Describing such moments to regular people who do not understand the blues is nearly impossible because they are such subtle details that can be easily missed by those not sensitive enough to detect them. But once you have heard them, they are never forgotten.

I cannot even begin to count how many of those small moments I can find within Muddy's vast collection of classics. Almost everybody is going to have a favorite part of each song of his, but in the case of "Rollin' Stone," I feel there can only be one valid answer: the first two seconds. Those two seconds are all that are required for that unbelievably brutal riff to pulverize your mind into a million pieces. Muddy had learned well from the merciless intensity of pickers like Son House, but on this song, he took it to a whole new level. This riff feels alive, the snarl of a lurking animal that will strike if provoked. The fact that the song is instrumentally only carried by that riff makes it feel almost frozen in time, moving frame by frame with each repetition of the phrase. 

It is this musical backbone that heightens the violent effect of hearing him belt out those lyrics. Few things are as powerful as Muddy screaming out "SWIMMIN' IN A HOOOOOO deep blue sea," even if it is not totally clear at first why the lyric demands such treatment. It is when you grab deeper at the subtle overtones of his vocals that you hear the pain and suffering he endured in his life being generated into a dark, menacing spirit, one that permeates practically everything he ever recorded. In this case, it only serves to make the imagery of females fishing after a catfish feel so much more deadly and skin-crawling than it already was. The song at its core is so simple, but brought to life with Muddy's genius, it becomes an unbelievably terrifying sonic universe that hardly anything before or after could compete with. The most smashing musical statement of its year, which is already saying a lot.

B-side: Walkin' Blues

Apple Music link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/walkin-blues/1434913280?i=1434913293

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/6mDEoH1kb6Tznphnm6XVtX?si=2df681a215894bf4

Muddy's home wouldn't be the Delta if he didn't cover this classic of the genre, and his rendition holds up just as well as Son House's and Robert Johnson's. In fact, comparing the three is perfect for comparing their very different artistic personalities. Johnson, being the more personal and humble of the three, uses his bouncy glass-shard tone to express solemn frustration while Son House sang like an aggressive preacher with a level of passion that could shatter your mind. Muddy, on the other hand, has the ability to animate his guitar sound to make it sound like a living, breathing predator. This is indeed one of the best displays of his magnificent playing talent with all of those irregular, organic phrasings and the sharp tones he produces. My favorite moment is either around 1:05 when he adds those extra low notes giving a wobbly sonic effect or around 2:00 when those circular progressions sound like a struggling prey desperately trying to escape their predator's grasp. The song, obviously, could not hope for the same effect as "Rollin' Stone" or "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (since this cover is not even remotely as revolutionary as either), but it goes to show that Muddy had finally found the best way to apply his talents, even if it is merely leaving his stamp on a well-known standard.

Verdict: Essential Listening

It is quite an instructive listen to hear his cover of "Walkin' Blues" back-to-back with "Rollin' Stone" and "Rollin' and Tumblin", just to get a feel of how much Muddy was single-handedly laying a whole new vocabulary for blues music to come. While "Walkin' Blues" is a confident harken to the past, "Rollin' Stone" is already looking way forward to new horizons, and even if no artist could quite play the blues like he could, the stakes he upped with the latter would become the baseline level of greatness in the post-war era. Hell, forget the historical context, especially when you have a riff that devours your insides in a way that almost nothing can. This is what dangerous music sounds like folks, and if you're taking a ride on the grittier, grimmer sides of life, there's no better guide through the depths than Mr. McKinley Morganfield.

1950 Singles: Rollin' and Tumblin' - Muddy Waters

 Rollin' and Tumblin' - Muddy Waters

Why included: 8th in RYM's Top 10 singles of 1950

A-side & B-side: Rollin' And Tumblin'

Apple Music link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/rollin-and-tumblin-pt-1/1425237096?i=1425238009

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/2v6v8sGavRY7cTLHql687z?si=6dd26a5e4dcc4384

To properly understand the frightening level of genius displayed here, one needs to dig way back and hear the previous versions of this staple in blues history. Although Muddy credits himself as the sole songwriter, the song was written and initially performed by Hambone Willie Newbern, a country bluesman in the 20s and 30s. His "Roll and Tumble Blues" was a minor triumph in its own right, featuring deeply-cutting slide work that gave a feeling of concealed danger under its menacing riff. The melody would be later appropriated by Robert Johnson in his classic "If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day", using his superb technique and glass-shard tones to truly animate the violence of Newburn's riff. Even without Muddy's input, this song would still be remembered as another fascinating facet of Johnson's lonesome personality and the moment of glory for Newbern as well.

Yet, Muddy happened to stumble upon this song and proceeded to take it to a whole new level of brutality. If Newburn and Johnson were simply documenting the deadly swarm of a bee colony, Muddy Waters maliciously provoked the whole damn hive. Nothing, and I really mean nothing, has ever truly surpassed the effect of Muddy playing that riff, inflicting a barrage of poisonous bee stings on his listeners as he wrings out the tone of each and every note. Coming right after that fearsome musical statement, the main slicing riff feels even more terrifying, not just played faster but also with a denser, gruffer sound that made all other versions feel tame in comparison. Perhaps it was another of his self-promoting tactics to credit this song to himself, but from one perspective, it was absolutely deserved: while others merely hinted at the compositional greatness of the song, Muddy explored every nook and cranny of its potential to make it a truly powerful musical beast.

Even this single can be said to be the arrival of Muddy as the great electric blues vocalist. On previous classics like "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "Little Geneva", he sings just like his delta blues elders: pained and looking inwards, but hardly sounding evil and devilish. When you are appreciating Charlie Patton or Robert Johnson, you are appreciating their raw expressivity and troubled personas first and foremost. However, he was young enough that the spirit of the blues could be properly mythologized, and many of the pre-war greats like himself were free to take the genre in new, epic directions. When Muddy sings here, he sounds possessed, as if he is awakening an ancient demonic spirit and channeling it through this song. There is way more aggression and pure "bite" to this style of singing than any of his previous influences, which makes sense: electric blues is a much louder, flashier style than acoustic, so naturally the vocalists would have to match these stylistics as well. No wonder it was Muddy's approach that became the standard paradigm in 50s blues, but while many future blues and rock musicians would try to perform this song, none of them could ever surpass the power of this recording (though Elmore James came pretty damn close). 

Verdict: Essential Listening

Although Muddy released a series of excellent records in the 1940s, from "Gypsy Woman" and "I Can't Be Satisfied" to "Screaming and Crying", this is undoubtedly the point where Muddy can be said to have truly "found himself," breaking free from his influences and establishing his place as one of the leaders of the burgeoning post-war blues scene. You can already hear how different his perspective on blues would be from his predecessors: louder, heavier, flashier, maybe even more theatrical and cinematic. Yet, the brilliance of Muddy Waters and his Chicago peers is that none of the substance, intensity, and depth of the genre was lost in the process, and over the next six years, Muddy and his band would explore and conquer so many different directions in the genre that he would undoubtedly reign as king of Chicago blues. Perhaps he would not truly acquire his throne until "Hoochie Coochie Man", but this single is already a fairly truthful sign of the greatness to come. 

1950 Singles: Blue Light Boogie - Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five

 Blue Light Boogie - Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five

Why included: Personal pick (#35 on RYM's top singles of 1950)

A-side & B-side: Blue Light Boogie

Apple Music link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/blue-light-boogie-pt-1-2/1434911391?i=1434911696

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/60emakxnA5wHFDPGQoZRbF?si=9ea2ee054a794ff9

If you listen to this outside of the context of Louis Jordan's accomplished career of jump blues and swing classics, it might indeed confirm Chuck Berry's comment about Louis being "the first person I heard play rock and roll." If songs like "Ain't That Just Like A Woman" hinted at the riff-oriented rockers of the future, this single goes all the way by basing the whole five-minute song on Bill Jennings's elegant guitar soloing. It was a pretty brave move to record a single not just without any horn passages but also with the guitar at the forefront of the mix, but luckily, the production is perfect, allowing his smooth, fluid phrasings to be quite tasteful and enjoyable. 

All of those proto-rock solos are pretty damn impressive by themselves though: Bill's style here may not be as shattering as, say, the stuttery, jumpy shuffle of T-Bone Walker's guitar, but it manages to impressively balance grit and loungeyness in a way that makes the whole slow boogie quite endearing. At the very least, the combination of the catchy chorus and instrumental backbone make the song quite listenable the whole way through, and for a group that relies on the virtuosic prowess of their brass section, that's quite the achievement. No wonder it was a big hit for the group (their last #1 R&B chart hit), and it already shows that Louis is fully aware of the new electric guitar-oriented paradigm being created in popular music and is willing to even try to compete on that front.

Verdict: Recommended

Although this single doesn't capitalize on the band's incredible horn section nor does it count as their most influential contribution to rock 'n' roll, the song shows both the versatility of Louis's charisma and the creativity of the Tympany Five. At their best, they could take on whole new musical paradigms and generate exciting musical passages on a whim and still have Louis's playful personality and lyrics make it feel seamlessly natural. It's no wonder that, unlike so many other jump-blues and swing combos that faded into obscurity, Louis Jordan still retains a large number of listeners today and even more admirers through those who covered him. "Blue Light Boogie" may be far from their quintessential song, but it captures much of that inventive spirit that kept them relevant artistically and commercially for more than a decade. And even if all of this talk of Tympany Five is irrelevant to you, just dig the catchy instrumental work on the song and the influence that it would have on the future of rock & roll.